John C. Pemberton

John Clifford Pemberton (10 August 1814-13 July 1881) was a Lieutenant-General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Pemberton, born in the northern state of Pennsylvania, was convinced to fight for the Confederate States of America due to his wife's Virginian birth and his service in the US Army in the American South. He commanded the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg in 1863, and he briefly served as Inspector-General of Artillery from January to April 1865.

Biography
John Clifford Pemberton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 10 August 1814, and he graduated from West Point in 1837, standing 27th out of 50 cadets. Pemberton became a Lieutenant in the US Army after graduation, and he served in the wars against the Seminoles in Florida, the Aroostook War standoff against the United Kingdom on the Maine-Canada border, the Mexican-American War, and the war against the Mormons in Utah.

American Civil War
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, however, Pemberton decided to betray his home state and his two brothers and join the Confederate States Army, as his wife was from Virginia, and he had made personal connections with the American South while he was stationed there. On 14 January 1862, Pemberton was promoted to Major-General, and he commanded the Department of South Carolina and Georgia from 14 March to 29 August 1862. P.G.T. Beauregard was dispatched to take over the department when the Union began to besiege the port city of Charleston, and Pemberton was sent to command a new department based in the Mississippi city of Vicksburg. On 29 March 1863, Pemberton's former West Point classmate Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to the city of Vicksburg with 77,000 troops, encircling Pemberton's 40,000 Confederate troops. On 4 July 1863, after several failed breakout attempts and the receipt of news about the crushing defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pemberton decided to surrender to Grant rather than fight to the death.

On 13 October 1863, Pemberton was exchanged as a prisoner, and he held no commands until 12 May 1864, when he was given command of the artillery defenses of the Confederate capital of Richmond. Pemberton led the artillery defenses until 9 January 1865, and he served as Inspector-General of the Artillery until 12 April 1865, when he surrendered to the Union at Salisbury, North Carolina. After the war, he retired to his farm in Warrenton, Virginia, and he returned to Pennsylvania in 1876. He died on 13 July 1881 at the age of 66.